The Akatsuki

Akatsuki was originally founded by Yahiko during the Third Shinobi World War and consisted of Amegakure ninja that wished to create peace for their home country, which acted as a battleground for three of the Five Great Shinobi Countries. Yahiko insisted that his and the rest of Akatsuki's actions were meant only to aid Nagato in bringing world peace, though Konan claimed that it was Yahiko's charisma that held the group together and spurred them on. Tobi alleges that it was his encouragement which lead to Yahiko forming the organisation, and thus credits himself as the group's creator.

In its early days, Akatsuki gained fame and recognition in Amegakure, drawing the attention of Hanzō, a world-renowned ninja and leader of the country. Hanzō, believing that the group was becoming a threat to his rule, approached the organisation and falsely claimed that he wanted to use them as the axis to negotiate peace between Konohagakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure. However, Hanzō betrayed Akatsuki and, working together with Danzō Shimura of Konohagakure's ANBU, kidnapped Konan and tried to orchestrate Yahiko's death.

Akatsuki's Symbol

That attempt failed however when a young Naruto interfered and saved Konan from them. Once Konan was safe, Yahiko and Nagato managed to hold off Hanzō and his group long enough for the rest of the Akatsuki to arrive. Once they had regrouped, they escaped from the site with no losses.

Later on, a masked man claiming to be Madara approached the Ame trio with a proposal to fight for world peace by using the power of the tailed beasts. Nagato and his friends were not supportive of this however, due to their close ties to the kyūbi jinchūriki Naruto. Not willing to take the risk of fighting someone as powerful as Madara however, they agreed to the masked man's plan with a secret motive to sabotage it at the appropriate time.